Norman Coote was studying to be a chemist in Toowoomba when he enlisted in August 1914. Assigned to the 3rd Field Ambulance in August 1914, he saw service at Gallipoli the next year and in France from 1916. Several cases of minor insubordination throughout his war did not prevent his promotion to Sergeant. His military career was instead affected by a case of dysentery and repeated cases of epistaxis (nosebleeds) which plagued him from late 1917. After regular hospitalisations in 1918, Coote was sent back to England a few days before the armistice.
He finished his chemist studies after the war, and opened a pharmacy in Toowoomba, later moving the business to Innisfail, Rosewood and Maleny. He was an active member of the respective local sub-branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association in most towns he lived.
Coote played for Park Rangers before the war leading to his addition to the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board in 1918. In 1931 he was an inaugural officer for a new Innisfail District Soccer Association.
He died suddenly in 1943 while working as a chemist in a Military Hospital.